


Lost Innocence

by Ceara Corey (kirylin)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Brothers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-09-03
Updated: 2005-09-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 06:03:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1142353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirylin/pseuds/Ceara%20Corey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A battle of wills ensues between Seto and Gozaburo Kaiba shortly after the brothers are brought to live at the Kaiba estate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> What is obvious is that I don't own anything officially related to Yu-Gi-Oh. What isn't obvious is that I also don't own the title "Lost Innocence". I was attempting to be cute. The title belongs to the Eric Stuart Band, or Eric Stuart himself as the man who wrote the song to begin with. It's important to note that the song and this story started out in no way connected to each other.
> 
> Author's Notes:  
> The week after I wrote Ceremony of Dolls, the kids who had been at camp the previous week wanted a new story. They still liked Ceremony of Dolls, and were convincing the new kids to get me to read it to them, but they really wanted something new. I tried to start The Card Catalog at that point, but it ended up going nowhere quickly. Eventually, I'll have to go back and pick it up again. Most of the kids knew my favorite character is Seto Kaiba, and so many of them suggested I somehow needed the dear boy to come in and mess up my otherwise cute Tristan-Serenity story.
> 
> I wasn't wild about the idea.
> 
> After I got home that night, though, it occurred to me that I could write a Kaiba story. Cartoon Network had started re-running "Enter the Shadow Realm", and I found myself sitting there watching Seto duel his stepfather. Somehow, in the midst of watching the episode, my disintegrating notebook found its way into my hands, and this piece began.

The dim light of his desk lamp was the only light in the room, the pencil scratching across the paper the only sound. Mokuba had been asleep for an hour, but Seto still had a stack of homework in front of him. Not that he minded terribly. He didn't find the work particularly challenging, just boring. Tonight's math homework was unusually mind-numbing, but he had quickly learned that the punishment for incomplete or sloppy work was a great deterrent to blowing off any homework. He shuddered involuntarily as he thought about his first couple of days in the manor.

He'd noticed over the past few days that the tutors seemed overly preoccupied with him, almost to the point of ignoring his little brother. Indeed, his little brother seemed to be an afterthought to their stepfather, Gozaburo Kaiba. It was really starting to bother the ten year old. Still, it was more of a life than they'd had in the orphanage. If there was one thing the very young Seto Kaiba wanted, it was to give his little brother Mokuba the best possible life.

Seto looked over with as much jealousy as he could muster at his brother sleeping peacefully on the bed. The brothers now had separate rooms, their own private spaces. Seto's room was fairly bare beyond the basic furniture, while Mokuba's boasted a variety of distractions for the youngster. _And yet he's here, asleep in my bed_ , Seto thought. He hadn't been comfortable with the arrangements to begin with. The brothers had never been apart and now the older one found himself resenting the situation, not really wanting to let Mokuba get too far away. The problem resolved itself every night. Mokuba would tiptoe into Seto's room, awakened by any manner of night terrors. Seto would calm his younger brother back to sleep and then tuck him into his own bed. Then he would finish his homework and crawl into bed beside his brother.

It had been a week since the brothers had come to live with Gozaburo Kaiba, and the man was becoming more intolerant of the situation. Already fairly gifted at reading the people around him, Seto was pretty sure that the exponentially-increasing amount of homework he'd received over the past two days was an attempt to discourage the younger boy's behavior. He suspected his stepfather expected him to send Mokuba away when he was busy. The truth was, there was no amount of work that could ever make him send away his brother.

A gentle rustling of the bed sheets told him that Mokuba was about to wake up. He carefully set his pencil in his math book and left the desk to sit beside his brother on the bed. No sooner had he sat down than he heard the small voice, "Seto?"

"I'm here. It's all right. Go back to sleep, Moki." The little boy rolled over and went back to sleep, and Seto returned to his desk. He worked for another hour before finally crawling into bed, asleep before he even had a chance to remove his slippers.

As he had the past couple of mornings, Gozaburo himself came to wake the boys before dawn. The man's voice thundered as he entered the room, "Mokuba, you must stay in your own room at night. I won't let you keep Seto awake. He's a growing boy who needs his sleep."

Seto eyed the stack of books on his desk, "Moki doesn't keep me awake! All of that work does!"

In a placating tone, Gozaburo tried to reason with his older stepson, "Seto, you cannot be expected to do your best work with Mokuba constantly clinging to you."

The older boy drew a deep breath, "Mokuba's just scared. We aren't used to being apart!" _I need him to be here as much he needs to be near me!_

"Then it's time he starts learning." Kaiba Corp's CEO turned his back on the boys as he headed for the door. He hadn't wanted to adopt the younger boy, but the older one wouldn't leave him.

"But he's just a little kid," Seto protested. Beside him, still wrapped up in the sheet, Mokuba hugged his knees to his chest. A lump caught in Seto's chest as he realized how the fight was affecting his brother.

"Enough. It's settled. Mokuba will stay in his room tonight." The younger boy shot his brother a terrified look. The older boy went to protest again, but Gozaburo had already left.

The next couple of days were among the roughest in young Seto's life. His complaints about his homework load were respected, but Gozaburo put security outside both his and Mokuba's rooms at night to keep the younger boy in his room and away from his brother. They were only allowed to see each other at meals. Mokuba didn't take the separation well. He stopped eating at meals, and Seto heard rumors that Mokuba was having nightmares that were getting worse. The tutors couldn't even get the younger boy to work on his school work, now that he finally had his own tutors.

Worried about his brother, Seto started neglecting his own schoolwork. Initially, the punishment wasn't too severe. The lanky ten year old was locked in his room all day. Meals and tutors came to him. The only thing missing in his opinion was Mokuba, and he was struck any time he mentioned his brother's name. At night, he refused to sleep, instead curling up on his bed and hugging his knees to his chest wishing he could hear his brother's quiet footsteps in the hallway. A couple of times he thought he heard something, but it never turned out to anything.

Things continued in this manner for the next two weeks. Between the lack of sleep and his newly developed lack of appetite, Seto's health started deteriorating. He promised himself that he wouldn't acquiesce to the servants' requests that he eat or sleep until he saw his brother again.

Gozaburo quickly tired of the situation. Neither boy was eating or sleeping (not that he cared about his younger stepson). Seto had defiantly stated that he wouldn't cooperate until Mokuba was returned to him. The rumor from Mokuba's tutors was that the boy alternated between crying and staring sullenly out the windows, similarly not eating or sleeping. To see the older Seto, in whom he saw so much potential, so emotional over his pathetic younger brother angered the CEO more than he could articulate.

To successfully turn Seto into the man he wanted him to be, Gozaburo knew he had to break his stepson's connection with his younger brother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> I don't really know what story I wanted to tell when I started this story. I do know that as I read the first two chapters to the kids they were all staring at me in utter disbelief. This story is darker, full of more angst than Ceremony of Dolls. Regardless, they were all very intrigued and wanted to see where I was going to take this idea. Truth be told, so was I. This was definitely one of those cases where the pencil was moving of its own free will.
> 
> It took me forever to figure out the age difference between Seto and Mokuba Kaiba. Even now, I'm still not sure that I'm right. I'm going off an average of a bunch of people's guesses. I realize the easy solution would be to pull out the original Yu-Gi-Oh manga, find out how old Mokuba is when the Geek Squad meets him, and consider the question resolved. Apparently, today I am too lazy to go engage in my beloved past time of research.

Seto sat curled up on his bed, resting his chin on his knees. The position was almost comforting to him, one of the few things he took any comfort in these days. Three weeks had passed since he last saw Mokuba. Two weeks had passed since he'd started his silent protest.

He heard tapping at his window. "Who's there?" The boy pushed his brown hair out of his eyes and pulled his knees even closer. He was slowly becoming aware of the side effects of sleep deprivation after jumping at shadows all week. His own tutors were afraid to enter his room after he'd yelled at one in fear when rapped too loudly on his door.

There was no answer, but a moment later, a small dark-haired boy tumbled into his room. "Moki!" Seto hopped off his bed and ran to help his brother to his feet.

Mokuba merely rolled over, stood, and dusted himself off. When he saw his brother, he smiled brightly, very proud of himself. "Hi, Seto! I did it! I finally figured out how to reach you!"

Seto couldn't remeber the last time he had been so happy to see his little brother. "I'm glad you're here, Moki. I'm sorry I haven't been able to keep my promise to you."

Mokuba grinned, in much higher spirits than Seto had hoped to find him, "That's all right." He looked around and whispered conspiratorially, "I brought something." He produced a sack from behind his back. The past couple of weeks really didn't appear to have affected the five year old as he ran over and dumped the contents of the sack on Seto's bed. The older boy's eyes widened as he realized what Mokuba had brought. His empty stomach growled as he looked at the feast before him.

"I've been saving bits of my meals ever since I realized I could get to your window!" Mokuba climbed onto the bed. "No one suspected. They just thought I was finally eating." He held out an apple to his older brother, who was still standing by the window resisting the urge to pinch himself. A cool breeze from the still-open window fanned the bottom edges of the ten year old's pajama shirt, convincing him that he wasn't suffering from any delusion.

Seto made his way to the bed and took the offered apple. The first bite tasted better than anything he'd ever eaten in his life. While Mokuba sifted through the treats to pick out a cookie, his brother ate every bite of the apple. The brothers talked while they ate, catching up on the other's activities. After a while, Mokuba rested his head on Seto's knee. As comforting as it was, he knew he couldn't keep his brother with him. There was no telling what Gozaburo would do if he found the younger boy in Seto's room. He let his brother sleep for a bit, occasionally ruffling his hair. Eventually, he woke Mokuba and sent him back to his room.

As expected, Gozaburo arrived bright and early to wake up his young protege. If he knew about Mokuba's escapade the night before, he didn't show it. Filled with renewed hope, Seto attacked his day with a bit more energy, choosing to frustrate his tutors by doing random bits of schoolwork. He still refused to eat.

Later that afternoon, Gozaburo called Seto into his office. "I've decided that we should start having dinners together as a family."

"Meaning?" the boy asked cautiously.

"Meaning you, Mokuba, and I will be having dinner together in the evenings. I've decided that I don't get enough time with my boys." His tone was almost fatherly. So much so that Seto had to fight to keep the disbelief off his face. Gozaburo had never shown an interest in being a father over the past month, so Seto was suspicious of his stepfather's motives. He thanked Gozaburo and returned to his room, hopeful that the man would keep his word but resolving to not be surprised if he didn't.

That night after he finished his lessons, Seto found himself being escorted to the formal dining hall. To his great surprise, Mokuba was already sitting at the table, resting his pouting cheek on his fist. He quickly took his place across from his younger brother. Neither said a word to the other. Gozaburo came in shortly after the first course was served. To his great dismay, sitting at the same table did nothing for Seto's appetite. Mokuba was poking at his salad, shifting layers around. Any attempt at conversation resulted in curt one-word responses from both boys, before he finally managed to get some brief sentences from his older stepson. The boy was still angry with him. Gozaburo recognized the defiance in Seto's voice as he ended every sentence with "Father" in a biting tone. He wouldn't give his stepson the pleasure of a response. Instead, he sat silently and ate his dinner, deciding it was preferable to the older boy's tone.

Mokuba continued to play with his food out of boredom, occasionally glancing at his brother with amusement. Seto sat still in his chair, watching his brother create masterpieces with his food. He only spoke when Gozaburo spoke to him, wishing that this travesty would end soon so he could go back to his room to wait for a chance to be with his brother unobserved. Thankfully, Mokuba seemed just as disinterested in both him and dinner. Gozaburo finally tired of the boys' silence. The evening had not gone as planned. He had the brothers escorted back to their rooms and placed back under guard.

Seto sat at his desk working on his homework, hoping to hear scratching at the window again. He wasn't waiting long. Mokuba cheerfully climbed through the window and sat himself on Seto's bed. The lanky older boy smiled and left his desk to join his brother on the bed.  
The boys ate together again, neither talking about that evening's dinner. Seto quickly finished his portion and returned to his work. Mokuba watched him sadly.

"Why are you working on that stuff?"

"Because I have to make it look like I'm starting to play along, or Gozaburo will take you away again."

Mokuba smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "He can't take me away, Big Brother! Not while I have my secret passage!"

Not wanting his brother to see his reaction, Seto took a deep breath, "I don't want to take that chance, Mokuba!"

The little boy froze. His brother rarely addressed him so formally. Something was wrong. He continued to watch Seto as he worked. When Seto's head started to droop, he pulled him away form his desk and tucked him into bed. He watched his brother fall asleep and then made his way back to his own room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> This was as far as the camp kids got to hear, and they were mad at me for it. They actually only heard about half of this chapter, and they were dying to know what happened next!
> 
> By this point, though, I was feeling somewhat concerned about my sanity level. Here I was, gleefully preparing to torture the Kaiba brothers. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was just days away from discovering how much I like both Kaiba brothers. (I had some serious issues when Mokuba's actor changed. Very serious issues. My roommate, also a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh, actually avoided me for a day or so because I was so unhappy with the new actress.) I would later joke that this fan fiction was born from my intense unhappiness with Grand Championship.
> 
> At this point, the story kept changing names, bouncing between "Stolen Innocence" and "Lost Innocence". For whatever reason, my intensely lacking titling skills were at their peak.

The next few dinners were as short and uncomfortable as the first. The brothers deftly dodged any attempt on Gozaburo's part to draw them into a conversation. To further frustrate their stepfather, Seto continued in his pattern of doing his homework haphazardly. His tutors were utterly baffled one day when they came in and found the ten year old had completed all of his work for the first time in a couple of weeks. Even more surprising, he was completely cooperative during his lessons. They reported the behavior to Gozaburo that afternoon, who took it as a positive sign. The next day, however, it was quite clear that Seto hadn't even looked at his assignments. He wouldn't even acknowledge their existence, completely ignoring the day's lessons. Fearfully, the tutors reported this as well. The CEO was livid, but chose to hold his temper to see what the next day might hold. The tutors informed him the next night that while all of the older boy's homework had been completed, he had once again ignored them and his lessons that day. Gozaburo quietly fumed.

Mokuba's tutors weren't nearly so stressed out over their charge. He was too little for serious lessons, but he cooperated enough to complete most basic assignments. He more often than not was noted for dragging his tutors to play with him and distracting them from their job. Not that his stepfather cared, really. He tolerated the brief reports on his younger son about the way one would tolerate waiting for a late train. He didn't realie that the boy's more upbeat behavior was due to his continually sneaking into his big brother's room at night.

Eventually, the boys became more talkative at dinner. They would answer questions about their day, and even about their schoolwork. To Gozaburo's dismay, they were still fairly brief also noticed that Seto wouldn't speak to him unless Mokuba was at the table. Realizing that his younger stepson was indeed the key to getting what he wanted from the older one, Gozaburo allowed the boys to take all of their meals together. He hoped it would cause the boys to relax enough to be more like the two little boys he had met in the orphanage, but they continued to be very formal in their interactions with each other at the table. He never suspected that they reserved their normal banter for the nights, away from Gozaburo's eyes.

He was encouraged by Seto's improvements in his lessons. Being able to check on his brother throughout the day, the ten year old's attitude improved. His school work was even thoroughly tutors remarked often how much better the boy looked and acted. Mokuba's tutors noted that the five year old had started taking an interest in his own much lighter workload, grateful that they were no longer being dragged into games. The situation improving over the next month. Both boys stopped picking at their meals and actually ate during meals. Slowly, they dropped their formal banter for something closer to their normal method of interaction, though they still reserved their personal conversations for their evening time.

The boys even became more relaxed about their evening visits, Seto allowing Mokuba to stay later. Despite seeing each other throughout the day, they both cherished their time alone together. Neither felt comfortable around their stepfather, and they enjoyed being able to spend time together without being guarded. One night, though, Seto fell asleep before sending Mokuba back to his room. In the morning, Gozaburo found them asleep together. To say the CEO was upset would be an understatement. Breakfast was immediately cancelled, and Gozaburo personally removed Mokuba to his room.

He never knew what his brother was put through for breaking the rules, but Seto's own punishment was almost too much for the spirited ten year old. He was given more homework than ever, and a person stayed in his room at all times to make sure he worked. When he didn't, he was struck sharply. He was allowed brief breaks for his meals, but even those were taken in his room. The plates often went untouched as he was eating so little. The boy even tried to maintain his sleeplessness, but lack of eating and the brutal torture of his new studying regimen proved to be too much for the determined brunette. Finally, he collapsed in exhaustion over his school books one night.

His stepfather woke him, demanding that he redo most of that day's assignments. At first, the boy looked at him, blinking. The words were coming in as a jumble, his mind too tired to make sense of what his stepfather was telling him. It finally sank in and his eyes moved from his flustered guardian to the books neatly piled about his desk. With an angry sigh, Seto started looking over the assignments again. He wasn't sure what his stepfather was complaining about, there was nothing wrong with any of his work. He put the assignments aside and looked through the stack he had left. Deciding it wasn't enough to worry over, Seto decided to go to sleep in his warm, soft bed.

When Gozaburo woke him up the next morning, he was furious that Seto had ignored him. The older boy, who had been allowed a little bit of time to wander the grounds of the Kaiba estate escorted, was now kept locked away in his room. It was just as it had been only a couple of weeks before, except Seto's workload had doubled. He fell asleep over his books every night, a fact that did not sit well with Gozaburo. It sparked many fights between the older boy and his stepfather.

Two weeks later, there was no sign of Gozaburo letting up. Fighting to keep his spirit from being broken, Seto finally decided that his protesting was only going to earn him more work and a longer period of incarceration. Even worse, it would keep him separated from Mokuba. He couldn't even find out how his younger brother was doing. Nights were spent pacing between his bed and the window, hoping against all hope that Mokuba wouldd figure out how to slip past the guards and get to him again. He had noticed recently that he was hearing fewer guards walking the hallway. He hoped it was a sign that Gozaburo was about to relent and let him see his brother soon.

Learning how wrong he was nearly destroyed Seto Kaiba.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> I think it was right around chapter four or five that I managed to finally get a hold of something I was looking for- one of Eric Stuart's two CDs. Yeah, we've all pretty well covered the "Oh, Look! Ceara's obsessed with Eric Stuart's voice" thing. He was already on my list of favorite voice actors, but to find out he could sing! I still listen to one of the CDs far too much! At any rate, I was introduced to the song "Lost Innocence". (Please see the note on the last chapter.) Somehow, in the finishing of this story, the title officially became "Lost Innocence". It almost happened subconsciously, but it did in fact happen. I was stuck with adding a bit to my disclaimer proclaiming my innocence at stealing the title.
> 
> This was also the point at which I realized I was going to have to do something to Mokuba. It actually did a great job of distracting me from the fact that I was overplaying a certain CD. I was confronted with something of a dilemma as I started pondering young Mokuba's fate. On principle, I just can't bring myself to seriously injure a child. (In fact, I can only bring myself to hurt a child in this fan fiction. Seto, you lucky dog!) But what could I do that would actually further Seto's psychological torment? Still unsure, I sat down to write...

Gozaburo woke his stepson up a couple of mornings after a particularly heated argument and left almost immediately. Not terribly sorry to see his stepfather go, Seto sleepily rubbed his eyes as he walked over his window. He opened the first set of drapes and looked outside. Somehow, for all the time he had spent looking out this very window, especially over the past few weeks, he had completely failed to notice that it looked out over the front of the Kaiba estate. That point was driven home rather painfully as he looked out his window that morning, the sleep replaced by shock.

Men were carrying a struggling Mokuba out of the mansion. The small, black-haired boy nearly wriggled his way free of his captors a few times before they loaded him into the waiting car. Seto wanted to scream, to jump out the window too many stories up for him to land safely, to attack the men restraining his brother. As much as he fought with himself to react, the surprising scene before his eyes left him in a stunned silence.

As the car started down the driveway away from the estate, Seto's anger finally spurred him to action. The feet that had been glued to the floor were carrying him faster than he had ever run before. He raced out of his room, past the guards, and down the stairs. In the foyer, he stopped when he saw Gozaburo walking back inside. Pure rage took over the boy, "Where is Mokuba going?"

"I thought he might enjoy a day off," Gozaburo replied breezily.

"Then why did it take four men to get him into a car?" Seto demanded.

Gozaburo's eyes widened slightly. He fumbled an attempt to pacify his stepson, "I don't know where you heard that, Seto. Mokuba was happy to go."

"No, he wasn't. I watched the whole thing."

His stepfather smiled as if he had just won some victory. "You watched the whole thing, but did nothing to stop it?" Seto's mouth hung open, framing a scathing response that would never see the light of day. There was no way he would let his stepfather know how badly the scene had affected him. "What's the matter, Seto? Cat got your tongue?" Gozaburo laughed darkly. "That simply won't do for the future president of KaibaCorp."

"I don't want your stupid company!" The truth was, he simply didn't care. All he wanted at that moment was Mokuba, and as much distance between them and Gozaburo as possible.

In a way, he almost had his second wish. Mokuba was gone, no telling where he was being taken. Quickly enough, two guards grabbed the enraged ten year old and dragged him back to his room. He didn't see anybody else that day, not that he wanted to. Again, he couldn't leave his room, not that he wanted to do that either. He sat at his window and watched for his brother's return. Time dragged on slowly, a torture more painful than the flood of work that had been tormenting him the past couple of weeks. As the sun set, Seto accepted what he had known to be true that morning: Mokuba wasn't coming back. He continued to watch throughout the night, hoping he was wrong. As he sat there watching and waiting, a dozen thoughts tumbled through his young head. Most of them involved different scenarios, forcing his overbearing stepfather to return Mokuba to him. One, however, became a promise to both himself and Mokuba. _I will take over KaibaCorp, and then I'll destroy Gozaburo._

Gozaburo didn't show up to wake him up in the morning. In fact, for the second day in a row, nobody came. No tutors. No one carrying his meals. The second was more noticeable than the first, as Seto realized that he hadn't eaten in nearly two days. He was starting to feel it, his strength not yet fully returned from his first hunger strike. The ten year old sat down at his desk, trying to decide what to do. As he stared at his books, a plan started forming in his mind. It was apparent that Gozaburo saw Mokuba as a privilege for Seto. The older boy would simply have to earn that privilege back. Once he had his younger brother back, he could start planning his corporate takeover.

Perhaps he wouldn't have to wait. Looking over the stack again, he realized he could do both at the same a dark grin, he started with the work Gozaburo had rejected two nights previous. Again, there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of it. He moved to the work he hadn't done, and spent the day completing it, not leaving even the most minuscule details unattended. If being the definition of total perfection was what it would take to get what he wanted, then that's what he was going to do. The fact that he was doing exactly what Gozaburo wanted was of no importance to Seto, because he wasn't doing the work for his stepfather. In fact, Gozaburo no longer mattered in the boy's world.

It was the second morning after Mokuba was sent away before anybody entered Seto's room. A servant brought him a meager breakfast. He waited quietly while the boy nibbled at the offerings, and then took the tray away when it became apparent he wouldn't eat any more. After breakfast was cleared, a tutor came in to retrieve the work the ten year old had already completed and drop off more work. Neither said a word to Seto, and he responded in kind. As soon as the tutor was gone, Seto sat down and started completing his work with the same meticulous attention to detail he had applied the night before. He was over halfway through the stack when another servant brought him a barely adequate lunch. This one left promptly after setting the tray on his desk. Seto nibbled at his sandwich as he finished working on his schoolwork. When both were completed, he neatly stacked his books and placed the folder containing his schoolwork on top. The empty tray was carefully set beside the stack.

He spent part of his afternoon staring out the window, until the door opened unexpectedly. "Good afternoon, Seto," Gozaburo's voice sounded like nothing was wrong.

"Good afternoon, father," Seto replied, his voice full of innocence.

Gozaburo noted the change in his stepson's attitude. "The tutors tell me your work is improving. This is good news."

"Thank you, father," the boy's voice continued to be respectful.

"Continue working hard and you may earn your place as the rightful heir to my corporation."

Seto smiled faintly, "I will do my best, father." In his mind, he laughed at the suggestion that his ascension to the top position in KaibaCorp would be a peaceful one endorsed by Gozaburo Kaiba himself.

With no idea what was running through his stepson's head, the man nodded in approval. "I'll leave you to your studies, then." The man left. Seto continued to stare out the window, grinning darkly at his own reflection in the pane.

"This is going to be far too easy."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> I'm so mean! A friend has pointed this out.
> 
> I really don't remember much about working on this chapter and the next. It was something of a green tea frappucino-induced blur. I remember them nearly writing themselves, with little help from me. Even I was a bit surprised when I read what I'd written. This is also right about where I feel the story fell apart in the first draft. I knew somehow I had to light a fire under Seto, return Mokuba to the estate, and not jump six years into the future. This is only meant to be a vignette, a brief story that shows why Seto started down this road of what can really only be described as self-loathing (regardless of anything that man may say!).
> 
> Also, I really think Gozaburo Kaiba is a jerk, and am often floored at the fact he managed to be successful at all. I understand Seto's success. I fail to understand Gozaburo's. Peter principle, perhaps?

A few days later, Gozaburo visited Seto. The older boy surprised his stepfather by asking to visit his stepfather's company. Despite being delighted at the fact the boy was finally showing interest in the company he was being groomed to lead, Gozaburo emotionlessly replied, "Yes, I think your school work can go a day without you."

"Thank you, father!" Seto could barely contain his excitement. His first look at the company he planned to take over! That alone was more exciting to the ten year old than finally escaping his room.

* * *

The visit itself was fairly boring. Gozaburo asked an aide to take Seto on a tour of all the non-private sections of the company. Seto naturally asked to see what was behind every door he was led away from. In one case, when he asked what was in a small, nondescript building, the aide paled slightly. "We don't talk about that."  
"Why not?" Seto was even more curious, wondering what secret could possibly be contained in such a plain, seemingly unguarded building.

"We just don't." With that, the aide returned him to his stepfather, the tour over as far as the aide was concerned.

Seto spent the rest of the afternoon watching Gozaburo work on his computer and field phone calls. He tried to sit as still as he could, listen to his stepfather's calls, but occasionally Gozaburo would have a secretary take him out for a snack or something equally inane while he handled a phone call that he felt the boy didn't need to be around for. Finally, they returned to the mansion for dinner, and then Seto was returned to his room.

The next morning, a new tutor arrived. A stack of books containing Seto's normal work was set on the floor. A stack containing Seto's new work was set on his desk. Gozaburo had seized the opportunity and decided to start his stepson's education in business. Seto worked harder than ever on his new school work, much to Gozaburo's contained delight. The tutors observed more than once that the boy had a natural talent for the subject and displayed a genuine enthusiasm for it. Thrilled as he was at his stepson's progress, Gozaburo kept pushing Seto to excel. The boy met every demand tirelessly. Finally, he decided to reward his stepson.

Seto was shocked one morning as his tutor cancelled his lesson for the day. He wandered downstairs to find the foyer brightly decorated. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Mister Kaiba has asked that we keep it secret," the servant replied. Seto didn't care for that answer, but couldn't get anything else out of the men in the room.

Annoyed, he started back up the stairs. "Wait, Seto! Don't go." Gozaburo's voice rang out through the foyer. "I think you'll like this." The boy turned where he was and folded his arms across his chest. He wasn't about to believe that his stepfather would do anything that would benefit him.

The distrust Gozaburo had instilled in him led to a feeling of great surprise as he watched his younger brother walk through the front door of the mansion. The little boy was laughing and joking with the man walking beside him, his personal bodyguard. Then, he looked up and saw his older brother standing on the stairs, "Seto!" Mokuba started running toward the staircase, but Gozaburo stepped in fornt of him, intercepting him..

"How was your trip, Mokuba? Did you have fun?"

Never removing his mischievous eyes from his brother, Mokuba replied, "Yeah. I had a blast! Seto, you wouldn't believe all of the cool stuff I got to do!" Fearing that the scene before him was a dream, Seto feebly nodded.

Watching his older stepson carefully, Gozaburo put on an air of dismay, "Seto, aren't you going to welcome your brother home?"

That was when it hit the boy. He heard himself say, "Of course. Welcome home, Mokuba," but his hatred of Gozaburo was growing like a wildfire. His brother was being used as a pawn. He knew he had to free them both from Gozaburo.

Mokuba looked crestfallen at his brother's formal greeting. Gozaburo seemed similarly shocked. He had been certain that bringing his younger stepson home would produce some sort of change in Seto's nearly stoic demeanor.

"Why don't you boys go play until lunch time?" Gozaburo offered. Mokuba cheered and raced up the stairs, grabbing his brother's arm and dragging him along.

Seto followed him, dazed, confused, and suspicious. _Why would Gozaburo suddenly be so willing to let us be together?_ The smaller boy almost couldn't stop talking the entire time it took to reach Seto's room, telling Seto about all of the places he'd been. From the sounds of it, Gozaburo's method of keeping Mokuba out of the way was to send the boy on a world tour of amusement parks.

"I've got some great new ideas for Kaibaland, Seto!"

"That's great, Mokie." The lanky boy dropped into the chair at his desk as his brother continued to ramble. He couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was wrong. If there was one thing Seto Kaiba had learned in his very short life, it was to trust his instinct. He finally interrupted the boy's tales, "Mokuba, did you go straight to the amusement parks?"

Mokuba blinked and looked around nervously. _Bingo_ , Seto thought. He moved over to the bed to sit beside his brother. "What really happened, Moki? Tell me." The younger boy drew his knees to his chest and dropped his eyes. Seto reached out and grasped his shoulder, trying to offer him strength and support.

Mokuba finally spoke up, "It was awful, Seto." The older boy waited patiently as the five year old explained what had happened. He had been moved from his room to a room in another wing at the far end of the mansion, kept prisoner in a windowless room. He was finally removed from the estate and held prisoner in another windowless room.

Seto could feel his blood starting to boil, "Did you really visit all of these parks?"

"Oh, yeah. About three weeks ago, we started going out and playing!"

 _Right around the time I visited KaibaCorp_ , Seto realized. This was another of Gozaburo's attempts to control him, and he was using Mokuba to do it.

Seto was furious.

He also felt the familiar twinges of overprotectiveness pulling on him. Mokuba was looking at him, a question on his face. Seto realized very quickly that he didn't want his younger brother caught in the middle of his power game with Gozaburo. He put on the same smile for Mokuba that he had for his stepfather after Mokuba was removed from the Kaiba estate, the one that hid the rage hiding just below the surface. It pained him to lie to his brither like that, but he kept telling himself it was for the younger boy's own good.

"What's wrong?" Mokuba finally voiced his question.

"Nothing. I'm just tired, Moki," the older boy responded dismissively.

"Oh." Seto wasn't sure his younger brother believed him, but at that moment, he didn't care. All he wanted was to remove Gozaburo Kaiba from their lives.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Notes:  
> This was originally the last chapter. I just couldn't think of anything else to say. It really supported the idea that this was just a random snapshot out of Seto's life, but no one seemed particularly happy with it. My attempt to tie it back to the opening of the story was just pathetic by all accounts. It needed something, closure or a sequel.
> 
> I will say that I did enjoy writing this piece, despite its initially weak ending. It's almost too much fun to torment Seto. It was a bit challenging to come back in and do the edit a couple of months later. That mood, that mindset...it just doesn't come easily.

Hoping to further encourage Seto, Gozaburo arranged for three of them to take all of their meals together. During these family dinners, the man had little trouble coaxing conversation out of Mokuba, but Seto sat sullenly. The older boy did little more than pick at his food, saying he wasn't hungry. Gozaburo watched this development carefully. The ten year old should have been as happy and excited as his younger brother. Instead, he was distant, moody.

Preparing for another war with his stepson, Gozaburo started making plans to break Seto's spirit again. That night, Gozaburo permitted Mokuba to stay with Seto. The gesture set off loud alarms in Seto's mind. He barely slept, keeping a close eye on his slumbering brother, occasionally brushing a raven lock from his angelic face.

Mokuba was still asleep when their stepfather came to wake them up. Seto, however, was ready to face the day. His thoughts were filled with nothing but ridding himself of Gozaburo. The boys ate breakfast with their stepfather, but were separated afterwards for their studies. Seto noticed gratefully that his work load had not increased. He worked quickly, completing most of his work by midday. Gozaburo continued to keep his word, bringing the three of them together for lunch and dinner, the brothers only separated for their lessons.

Mokuba was slowly allowed to spend more time with his brother outside of meals. The boys worked on their homework together, and then Mokuba played quietly while Seto finished his homework. Except Seto stopped playing with Mokuba, instead adding reading more business books to his schedule. The little boy was heartbroken. More and more, Seto seemed not to notice him. He only glanced Mokuba's direction occasionally to make sure the younger boy was all right. Even the five year old's best attempts to distract his older brother into taking breaks failed to reach Seto. "I can't right now, Moki. I have a lot of work to do," Seto replied tersely as Mokuba tried to get him to play chess with him.

"You always have a lot of work to do! Come on, Seto! Come play!" Seto sighed angrily and returned to his work. Mokuba just stared at him, feeling rejected and lonely. He finally settled himself into Seto's bed and cried himself to sleep. Seto barely noticed.

The same scene played itself out over several nights, creating an unusually tense relationship between the brothers. Even Gozaburo noticed the change. Trying to correct the problem, he reduced Seto's school work load and lifted all restrictions on Mokuba's time with him. His efforts backfired. Angered at the lack of work, Seto lashed out at his stepfather repeatedly. He'd simply worked too hard to be treated like he was incompetent. Most of his attacks were verbal, demanding his stepfather's respect. Occasionally, exhaustion and frustration drove him to physically launch himself at Gozanuro, who would unsuccessfully attempt to hold the tall lanky boy at arm's length until his bodyguard could retrieve the ten year old and hold him beyond harm's reach. Gozaburo Kaiba didn't take well to his stepson's insults. Seto's workload was quickly restored, but the CEO ordered more difficult assignments to be added. The boy, initially grateful, was soon suffering from stress and a lack of sleep. Soon, he was arguing over anything and everything with his stepfather and lashing out at everybody. Even Mokuba was afraid to go near him anymore.

One particularly stressful night, Seto was hard at work well past his normal beditme. He refused to listen to Mokuba, who was pleading with him to get some rest, and kept working until his vision blurred. He rested his forehead against his fingertips, wishing the pounding in his head would cease soon. Worried about his older brother, Mokuba watched Seto from the floor where he had quietly been leading block armies in war against each other. He was dead tired, but he couldn't let himself sleep until he knew Seto was all right. Seeing his brother's head droop, the little boy carefully tiptoed over to the desk. Seto hadn't attacked him yet, but Mokuba knew it was just a matter of time. He also knew his brother was in desperate need of a break. Timidly, he touched the older boy's arm, "Seto?"

The resulting push from the surprised ten year old sent Mokuba across the room and into the footboard of Seto's bed. As he heard the resulting thud, Seto looked toward the bed, satisfaction giving way very quickly to guilt as he saw it was his brother sitting there on the floor. His brother had been the victim of his shove. Mokuba just looked at him, his cherubic face radiating both hurt and concern.

"Mokie!" Guilt consumed Seto's every step as he raced to his brother's side. The smaller boy was unhurt and more than willing to forgive his older brother, but Seto was far too psychologically damaged by the past couple of months. Mokuba tried to comfort him, but Seto had been pushed well beyond his coping limits. Finally, the five year old gave up and crawled into bed, where he fought to keep himself from crying.

Seto sat on the floor at the foot of his bed staring at his hands, horrified by his treatment of his younger brother. He'd been distracted from taking care of Mokuba by his growing desire to destroy his stepfather. He looked over at the still-looming tower of books on his desk. Slowly, deliberately, he walked over to his desk and took his anger out on the stack. He knocked them off with a sweeping blow, and screamed before falling into his chair. His pain released itself in the form of warm, salty tears that quickly soaked his cheeks. Through his sobbing, his eyes landed on a piece of paper, an assignment he had been working on for the past couple of days. He picked it up, looked at Mokuba sleeping fretfully on the bed, and grinned.

Sitting in his dimly lit room, he held his victory in his hands, an inane school assignment titled "Business Plan".

_I will defeat you, Gozaburo Kaiba, and I'll keep my family intact in the process._


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:  
> Originally, this chapter didn't exist. I didn't want it to exist. I fought hard against its existence, but too many people wanted something more to this story so I finally caved. Inspiration hit almost as soon as I surrendered, so writing this chapter was fairly easy. It should be noted that it was at this point that the actual song "Lost Innocence" came into play, and the chorus of that song graced the end of the story. To prevent any potential action being taken against the story, the lines were removed shortly after the story was posted.
> 
> This is a fast forward from the rest of the story. This chapter takes place somewhere in between Waking the Dragons and Grand Championship. (Yeah, I'm trying to lighten my unhappiness with Grand Championship here. Between bad writing, a new Mokuba, and Stuart playing Kaiba weird...yeah, unhappy Ceara.)

"Wow! So, we're finally going to start building the first Kaibaland, Seto?" The young CEO nodded as he smiled grimly. He knew Mokuba would be excited to find out he'd given the okay to break ground on the first amusement park. Indeed, the pre-teen was literally bouncing around Seto's office, hopping on and off the chairs and couch while singing, "We're finally building Kaibaland," repeatedly. As annoying as it was, it warmed Seto's heart to see Mokuba so happy. The boy had been in a mood lately, an aging, brooding melancholy more befitting of the older Kaiba. Now, he was acting his age, energetically pulling on his older brother's arm, "Come on, Seto! Let's go see the site!"

"Not now, Mokuba. I have work to do." His little brother's pouting face was easily ignored as Seto less than gently shoved him out of the office. On the other side of the door, he could hear Mokuba stifling his tears. Seto slumped slowly against the door, trying not to give away his position to Mokuba. Truth be told, he'd been pretty moody lately himself. Between the long and late hours he'd been putting in on getting Kaibaland started and his recent dealings with Yugi Moto, he hadn't been sleeping much. When he did sleep, his dreams were fraught with memories of his early days at the Kaiba estate. Perhaps that was why he was pushing Mokuba away. Memories of feeling helpless mingled with memories of not being able to protect his brother assaulted him every time he looked at the boy. He was allowing himself to be strangled by demons that no longer mattered.

Annoyed with his apparent weakness, he threw himself into his chair and started working again on the plans for the amusement park. A few minutes later, attention wandering as he became lost in his thoughts, Seto's eyes landed on his locket lying a few inches from his laptop. He picked it up by the cord and flicked it, sending it into a spinning, yet swinging pattern. As he gazes at the blur of red and gold, he remembered when his brother gave it to him. Smiling softly, he pulled it from its dance and opened it to see Mokuba's picture grinning back at him.

Happier times. A time long forgotten.

Mokuba had never lost faith in him, not once. So, why couldn't he find that faith in himself? Placing the locket around his neck, he decided to start trying to find the answer to that question. With a heavy heart, he made his way from his office in the mansion to his younger brother's bedroom door. He knocked on the door, a bit harder than he'd intended. Predictably, there was no response from the room's resident. He knocked again, this time more softly. "Mokuba, it's me. Open up."

"Go away!" Seto's shoulders slumped. He knew he deserved that. It didn't matter, though. Right now, he just needed his brother.

"Come on, Mokie." There was silence. He held his breath, hoping the use of the nickname he'd given his brother when they were small children might change Mokuba's mind.

The door opened, the moody boy stood there. His eyes widened when he saw the locket around his brother's neck. Seto hadn't worn his locket very often recently. Mokuba had actually started believing his brother had lost the necklace with its pendant styled after a Duel Monsters card. Seeing it now caused his young heart to catch in his throat. His brother was trying to fix things. "What do you want?" Mokuba tried to pretend he was still mad at Seto, but he'd never been able to hold anything against his brother, his hero.

"Your help," Seto replied bluntly.

"With what?" The younger boy was sure he hadn't heard his brother correctly. Seto never asked for help. Mokuba was genuinely curious to see what had prompted this change in his brother.

Seto looked lost for a moment. He nearly said exactly what was on his mind. After a moment's debate on whether or not that was a bad thing, he finally decided to get to his actual purpose for visiting his younger brother, "I thought you could help plan part of Kaibaland."

The little boy's eyes twinkled. "Really, Seto?" The hesitation on the older brother's part was only slight before he nodded. As the smile spread to Mokuba's entire face, he started bouncing again.

The brothers spent the afternoon together working on developing Kaibaland. As they were working, Mokuba stole occassional glances at his brother. Seto often repsonded by glancing back, but Mokuba had already turned away. Finally, in exaperation at his brother's game, the brunette CEO asked his brother what was wrong.

The boy just grinned, "You're starting to look like Seto again."

"I am, huh?" He didn't know why, but watching Mokuba nod made him smile. He'd been feeling lost for a while, but spending this time with Mokuba was starting to let him feel human again. The two worked well after sunset, eating a pizza in the office as they worked. Seto would have worked straight through dinner without realizing he'd missed it, but Mokuba had pleaded with him to eat something. The raven-haired boy was even thoughtful enough to arrange for a food he knew his older brother didn't particularly care for. If Seto had even noticed, it never showed as he moved virtual objects around the virtual blueprints of the amusement park.

By the time Mokuba fell asleep on the couch, Seto realized the screen was blurring. He picked up his brother and carried him to his room, tucking him in before heading to his own room to face a night hopefully free of certain nightmares.

* * *

He sat in his office, looking out the window. Somewhere out there were his demons, waiting for him to let down his guard. He'd just have to face them one by one until there no more. He wanted his life back. He wanted to be able to spend time with Mokuba without worrying about business or dueling.

More than anything, Seto Kaiba just wanted to be himself again.


End file.
